Honeymoon ends, inquest begins

After the Bangladesh Sports Shooting Federation's (BSSF) elected executive committee was declared illegal in 2012, Intekhabul Hamid was elected general secretary in one-sided polls. Two years later, Nazimuddin Chowdhury was elected unopposed in the presidential polls.

Inthekhabul took some good initiatives to overcome financial constraints and sponsored a youth competition while president Nazimuddin convinced the finance ministry to allocate funds for the modernisation of the national shooting range (installation of digital targets and renovation of dormitory) and five rifle clubs.

In order to realise their dream of qualifying directly for the Tokyo Olympics, Nazimuddin and Inthekhabul roped in high-profile Danish rifle coach Klavs Christensen. They also sent shooters to almost all international events over the past eight years, with Inthekhabul accompanying them almost everywhere. Yet, their ambitious vision fell apart when Christensen left Bangladesh in late 2018.

In August last year, BSSF president Nazimuddin formed a probe committee to investigate 10 allegations made against Inthekhabul in three anonymous letters. The committee interviewed 23 people to find out the facts behind allegations of embezzlement, collecting advance money from clubs for purchase of arms, importing air rifles in an illegal manner, participating in government projects at BSSF with exorbitant prices and appointing their own company for the federation's works.

It surprisingly discovered that the federation is Tk 6.28 crore in debt but found no proof of embezzlement. It also found that nine clubs were still owed Tk 1.32 crore, which the BSSF collected in 2017 to import arms.

The committee also found that the shooters used new model air-rifles during December's SA Games in Nepal but those rifles were not imported by the federation. The committee did not blame the secretary general for the illegal imports, rather suggesting further investigation before taking action.

The committee came to a conclusion of initial justification on the allegation that Inthekhabul's 'Delco Business Associate Ltd' worked on the National Sports Council's renovation projects at Gulshan Shooting Range. Interestingly, they found a whopping Tk 70.55 lakh deficiency in the ledgers of the BSSF from 2015 to 2019, despite the proprietor of Fakruddin Catering depositing rent money.

The committee also exposed some undisclosed truths indirectly, such as that the BSSF spent all its funds with approval from the executive committee, which disappointingly did not disburse prize money of around Tk 14 lakh to shooters bringing laurel for the nations.

Even BSSF officials were aware of the federation's debt, while the involvement of Inthekhabul's company in development works at BSSF raised questions of a conflict of interest.

The committee also uncovered more unpleasant facts, such as that Bangladesh have only four certified C-licence coaches [one of whom died in a road accident] and that there have been virtually no youth development activities.

The BSSF also failed to utilise Christensen and could not use him in developing the local coaches although they paid him Tk 45000 per working day. Christensen was engaged with only a few top shooters, allegedly those who were loyal to the powers that be.

"Neither Nazimuddin nor Inthekhabul would misappropriate money I believe. I have worked with Nazimuddin in the federation for 18 years from 1991 to 2008. I know him. He is a man who will do everything but can't make anyone understand. He always wants to keep everything in his hands and keep others as puppets. So, he had problems with [general secretaries] Afzal Karim and Mir Doulat Hossain. It is now the same problem with Inthekhabul. It is a conflict of power," said former BSSF general secretary Istiaque Ahmed Bablu.

"Arms and bullets were once the main reasons behind conflict among shooting officials because they were imported by the shooting federation and many were interested be part of the executive committee and strengthen their position to avail the facilities of those guns and bullets, which were used to hunt animals and birds across the country," said another former BSSF general secretary seeking anonymity. "This time around, there is no such issue as the guns and bullets are now being imported by the businessmen. Unfortunately, the conflict and grouping among the BSSF officials remains the same and there is virtually no improvement of the shooting itself on the international area," he added.